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Mac's murals fight crime

Alexis Koehler, a Grade 8 student at Holy Family, works on a mural at Mac's on Second Line West in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Monday, June 19, 2017 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (BRIAN KELLY/THE SAULT STAR/POSTMEDIA NETWORK)

The Grade 8 student at Isabel Fletcher Public School is one of four youth from schools near Mac's at 647 Second Line W., who were selected by Sault Ste. Marie Police Service for a first-time effort in the city.

They were chosen from hundreds of submissions illustrating “what best represents the city of Sault Ste. Marie,” said Const. Sonny Spina.

Eder was joined by Chloe Shier, a Grade 3 student at St. Francis and Alexis Koehler, a Grade 8 student at Holy Family, were at Mac's on Monday. A fourth student, Mitchell Hof, a second St. Francis student, was not able to attend. The trio teamed up with Magic Finnga Wong, a Toronto-based artist. He's worked on nearly 20 other murals at Mac's locations. The students and Magic Finnga Wong were joined by three uniformed officers from city police.

Mac's is opting for artwork when its locations, or surrounding neighbourhood, experience elevated levels of crime.

The art project started at a Thunder Bay location in 2012 when traditional security methods, such as lighting and making the store interior more visible to passersby, didn't help deter criminal activity.

“Everything we're doing now is not working,” said Sean Sportun, manager of loss prevention for Mac's and Circle K in central Ontario. “What can we do differently?”

The Thunder Bay pilot worked. The store hasn't experienced a serious incident in the last five years.

Other sites followed in Toronto, York, Durham and Calgary, Alta. A Kitchener location saw a mural made earlier this month. A Soo Greyhounds mural will be done at a second Mac's store on Wellington Street West. Both Sault locations “have had problems” in the past, said Sportun.

Mac's use of artwork caught the attention of Katy DeCelles, a visiting associate professor at Harvard University. The American school directed a grant of $40,000 US in 2016 to Mac's to help with mural creations. Just how the art results in less crime is what Harvard wants to learn. Sportun has an idea what might be a factor. Put youth and police together and good things can happen.

“They're breaking the barrier between the police and the youth and the youth and the police,” he said. “Our hope is by bridging that gap that each one of them will learn a little bit more about the other and they'll have a different viewpoint.”

Another key to making the art pay off, Sportun tells The Sault Star, is involving the local community in its creation.

“Anybody can come and paint something on the wall, but if you don't have the community engagement it's not going to have the effect that we're seeing,” he said.

Murals, said Sportun, must also be “specific” to the community.

While only three students were selected to work with Magic Finnga Wong, Sportun was confident word of mouth will help more youth learn about the mural project. Several students grabbed spray-paint cans and went to work on the east wall facing Goulais Avenue late Monday morning.

“We're going to have a lot more than four kids here,” when the finished mural is unveiled on Thursday at noon, Sportun said.

“This is cool,” he said of the mural project. “Spray-painting the wall and just putting anything you want, it's fun.”

Eder is hopeful the mural will encourage people to consider the sites, and activities, available to be enjoyed in the Sault.

The Sault murals represent Magic Finnga Wong's 18th and 19th murals with Mac's. What stands out for him is how the four selected students emphasized the city's history in their submissions.

“Pretty much everything they came up with is being interpreted in the mural,” he said.

The murals marks the third way Mac's and city police have teamed up since late last year.

The company opted to end the 24-hour operation of its downtown location because of repeated robberies in the early morning hours. The site now closes at 11 p.m. and reopens at 7 a.m.

Mac's also contributed $5,000 to a video game program offered at several city sites including Neighbourhood Resource Centre on Gore Street.

The company has distributed 1.3 million coupons for free Froster drinks for youth in the last 10 years. City police have handed out all of its vouchers, rewarding behaviour such as wearing safety equipment when cycling, assisting seniors and inviting other children to participate at park activities.